Early results favor opposition in Ghana election

It is always good to see democracy working in other countries. Especially when they are one of the few stable ones such as Ghana. Hopefully they can continue to grow and become a glowing star for all of Africa to look on and want the same thing and work towards it. And get rid of all the war lords and pirates around that continent.

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI - Associated Press Writer

ACCRA, Ghana -- Ghanaians walked the streets holding radios to their ears and congregated next to TV sets Monday as early results in one of Africa's few stable democracies showed the opposition leading by a sliver.

With only a quarter of the precincts counted, there is plenty of room for change. But early results showed opposition candidate John Atta Mills leading the ruling party's Nana Akufo-Addo by some 10,000 votes.

The opposition's base is the urban poor concentrated in the capital, who live in areas that have largely been left untouched by Ghana's stunning economic growth. Results are expected to begin trickling in from the countryside, where the ruling party has traditionally led.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - People sit under signs explaining the voting process as they wait for polls to open in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Local residents watch election workers count ballots at a polling station in Jamestown in the Odododiodoo Constituency of Accra, Ghana Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Opposition Presidential candidate John Atta Mills casts his vote at a polling station in Regimanuel Estate in Accra, Ghana Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Alimatu Banasi casts her vote for president at the Victory International polling station in the Kakuudi neighborhood of Accra, Ghana Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Voters wait patiently in line to cast their votes for president at the Accra Girls Secondary School in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Rosemond Anim, right, is handed a presidential ballot by a poll worker before voting at Accra Girls Secondary School in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Freemia Adiui, wearing traditional Ghanaian clothes, casts his vote for president at the Victory International polling station in Kakuudi neighborhood, in Accra, Ghana Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Local residents cheer as ballot counting shows opposition party candidate John Atta Mills getting more votes than ruling party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, at a polling station in Jamestown in the Odododiodoo Constituency of Accra, Ghana Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - A Ghanaian woman casts her vote for president at the Accra Girls Secondary School in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

Rebecca Blackwell

AP Photo - Election workers and observers dispute a ballot as local residents look on at a polling station in Jamestown in the Odododiodoo Constituency, Accra, Ghana Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. An estimated 12.4 million registered voters, roughly half the country's population of 23 million, will choose from one of eight candidates to succeed President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms as required by law.

According to a statement released by the country's Electoral Commission, Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress, or NDC, has 48.98 percent of the vote with 63 out of 230 precincts reporting.

Akufo-Addo, whose New Patriotic Party, or NPP, has been in power for the past eight years, is close behind with 48.55 percent of the vote.

In a year that has seen disputed elections in both Kenya and Zimbabwe, voters here are keenly aware that they are viewed as a role model for the rest of the continent.

"I am proud that my country is a democracy," said Salomey Tackie, who along with several hundred neighbors waited for results outside her polling station late Sunday in one of the capital's crowded shantytowns.

People crowded to watch the votes being count, even standing on boxes to get a view. The onlookers were overwhelmingly pro-opposition and they whooped loudly each time they saw the NDC stack get higher.

When all the ballots had been put in their proper piles, the monitor began counting them - holding up each individual ballot so that the people could see. They chanted with him, "One, two, three ... ." They erupted into celebration when the NDC finished the tally with 517 to the NPP's 125 votes.

Like its neighbors, Ghana has a history of coups and one-party rule, but since the 1990s when coup leader Jerry Rawlings agreed to hold elections, it has been on a fast track to democracy. It has held four elections since 1992, first bringing Rawlings to power, then current President John Kufuor, who is stepping down after two terms in office.

When he does, it will mark the country's second successive transfer of power from one democratically elected leader to another, a litmus test of a mature democracy that only a handful of African nations have passed.